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Quote from Blood Read

"An ambiguously coded figure, a source of both erotic anxiety and corrupt desire, the literary vampire is one of the most powerful archetypes bequeathed to us from the imagination of the nineteenth century."~ page 2 introduction to Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture

Intellectual Vampire Quote

"If the vampire is an other, he or she was always a figure in whom one could find one's self...the despicable as well as the defiant, the shameful as well as the unashamed, the loathing of oddness as well as pride in it."~ Richard Dyer

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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Our Christmas Movie Festival starts off on Thanksgiving
morning with Miracle on 34th Street
and ends on New Year’s Eve with When
Harry Mets Sally. Some of the selections might seem a little quirky, but
here is my must-watch list for 2013.

1. Miracle on 34th Street -- what can you say about a movie that
combines sweet sentimentality, wry cynicism, childhood innocence and wonder,
and a romance in one great package. I’ve loved this movie for as long as I can
remember (Maureen O’Hara!) and I have the feeling I always will.

2. Holiday Inn – Don’t tell anyone but I
cheat. I’ve been known to watch Holiday
Inn in March and July and every other month in the year too. Fred Astaire!
Bing Crosby! Marjorie Reynolds! And Virginia Dale whose wonderful knee-length
dance dresses would look just as good today as they did in 1942.

3. White Christmas – I know it’s basically
a remake of Holiday Inn, with Danny
Kaye in the Bing Crosby role, and all of those great Irving Berlin songs, but
it gets me every time. Yes, it’s over-the-top and loosely plotted but the
people are pretty, the music is great, the dancing is wonderful, and I want to
live in that Vermont lodge with the big fireplace and wooden beams. Besides,
aren’t Christmas movies supposed to make you cry?

4. Desk Set – Tracy and Hepburn at their
best. And the supporting cast of Gig Young, the glorious Joan Blondell and Dina
Merrill doesn’t hurt either. Smart, sophisticated comedy with a heart of melted
chocolate, it’s a wonderful trip back to the Fifties.

5. The Bishop’s Wife --

6. A Christmas Carol -- The TV version with George C. Scott.
Scrooge’s redemption brings me to tears every single time.

7. It’s a Wonderful Life – First time I saw
this, I hated it. This was way back in 1971, long before the movie had morphed
into a holiday classic. I thought it was the most horribly depressing movie I’d
ever seen. Poor George Bailey! He should’ve packed his valise and run fast and
far before that terrible town ate him alive. But times change and people do,
too, and slowly I fell under the spell of Bedford Falls and George and
Clarence. I still kind of wish George had managed to see the world, but
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without this film.

8. Love Actually – I can get through most
of the movie with just a few sniffles here and there, but by the time we reach
the airport montage at the end, I am flat-out ugly crying, big huge sobs that I
just can’t stop. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Beach Boys’ God
Only Knows, but pair it up with all of those people being reunited with the
ones they love – sorry. I need a Kleenex. (A box of ‘em.)

9. Christmas in Connecticut – The original
(let’s not discuss the Schwarzenegger version) with Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis
Morgan, C. Z. Szakall. One of the best rom coms ever.

10. Mr. Magoo’s A Christmas Carol – What can
I say? Pass the razzleberry dressing …

11. Bell, Book and Candle – Sexy witches,
mischievous warlocks, harried editors and that wonderful scene atop the
Flatiron Building. What more do you need?

12. When Harry Met Sally – The New Year’s
Eve scene at the end is the perfect ending for a romantic comedy.

Christmas used to be the happiest time of the year in the big house on the hill. But this year when the clock strikes midnight on Christmas Day, it will all be over. Can Sebastian, a wily Maine Coon cat, find a way to bring his people back home or will this holiday be their last?

Previously published as "Home for the Holidays" in Penguin Berkley's anthology "The Christmas Cat."

Single mother Samantha Dean doesn't have time for Christmas. Or romance, for that matter. She is weeks away from opening her own catering business, the most important part of her plan to provide her certified genius daughter Patty with all the wonderful things she deserves.

Except Patty doesn't want to go to a fancy boarding school. She wants a father and when she meets bartender Murphy O'Rourke at her fourth grade Career Day presentation, she knows she's met the man of her mother's dreams!

But can she convince her Mrs. Scrooge of a mom that it was time to give Christmas -- and love -- a second chance?

Barbara Bretton is the USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of more than 40 books. She currently has over ten million copies in print around the world. Her works have been translated into twelve languages in over twenty countries.

Barbara has been featured in articles in The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Romantic Times, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Herald News, Home News, Somerset Gazette,among others, and has been interviewed by Independent Network News Television, appeared on the Susan Stamberg Show on NPR, and been featured in an interview with Charles Osgood of WCBS, among others.

Her awards include both Reviewer's Choice and Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times; Gold and Silver certificates from Affaire de Coeur; the RWA Region 1 Golden Leaf; and several sales awards from Bookrak. Ms. Bretton was included in a recent edition of Contemporary Authors.

Barbara loves to spend as much time as possible in Maine with her husband, walking the rocky beaches and dreaming up plots for upcoming books.